The Customer is NOT Always Right

Harry Gordon Selfridge coined the phrase "The customer is Always Right." in 1909 as a tenant of customer service. Since then, it has been used to convey an empathetic approach to serving customer needs. The idea is short, simple, and easy to understand. Because of this, it's become a memorable standard of service. Nowadays, should it remain as a compass for identifying good customer service?

 Unfortunately, the customer isn't always right. Sometimes, customers can be unreasonable and it should be ok to dismiss them. Why should one entertain a patron that points out this tenant like a secret weapon of corporate demise? Assuming Mr. Selfridge's correction, employee morale is also diminished. Employees need to feel that their service is valued and that they play an important role in conflict resolution.

 In perspective, if the customer is always right, that would also infer that the service associate is always wrong! Do you think a UN diplomat would subdue to this principle? Employees should feel empowered to delegate conflict resolution, without having to fold for any and all customer demands.

 Customers that are abusive or hazardous (for whatever reason) are bad for business. They can labor a company by abusing customer resolution associates. Oftentimes, abusive customers fail to read terms and conditions which bind them to maintain their arrangement. These unreasonable and abusive customers are easy to spot.

 Aside from financial repercussions, employees that feel devalued cannot serve as good ambassadors for a brand. Most likely, an employee abused by this standard will mold into that same miserable customer demanding more without proper ethic. Perhaps Southwest Airlines had the right idea when they incorporated their standard to allow refusal to certain patrons on their flights. Their liberating tenant: "Fly somebody else, don't abuse our people." could serve as a compass for finding some standard in a world where demand increases every day.